'Dangerous' prisoner made three bomb-hoax calls from HMP Wakefield segregation unit
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Neil Preece-Smith, who once made threats to kill notorious child murderer Roy Whiting, called the Samaritans three times in the space of a matter of hours and told them a bomb had been planted in the prison’s staff car park.
The 39-year-old gave a fellow prisoner’s name to take revenge on him, and to waste as much money as possible.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAppearing at Leeds Crown Court via video link from HMP Wakefield’s segregation unit, he admitted three counts of making hoax calls. It was heard that he made the first call on the morning of October 16 last year, giving the listener the false name.


He told the man that he was going to murder the Samaritan’s family, which the listener did not take seriously. He then told him there was a bomb in the staff car park that would detonate at 4pm. He said his friends and family had planted the device because they were fed up of him being behind bars.
Preece-Smith made two further calls, reiterating what he had said. The prison was alerted by the police who were forced to carry out searches, although nothing was found.
The calls were traced back to Preece-Smith. He was interviewed and admitted the offences. He said he had tried around 30 times before but could not get through. He said he gave a fellow inmate’s name because he wanted to exact revenge on him for throwing faeces at a female prison officer.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdPreece-Smith has 21 convictions for 51 offences, including multiple bomb hoaxes while in prison from 2017 and 2020.
He was jailed for life in 2006 for torching an ex-offenders' hostel, saying he wanted to kill those staying there. He was handed another 10 years’ jail for aiding and abetting a cell-mate's suicide at HMP Leeds.
Described by a judge as being “extremely dangerous”, Preece-Smith later plotted to kill Whiting, who is serving a life sentence for kidnapping and murdering eight-year-old Sarah Payne in Surrey in 2000.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMitigating for Preece-Smith, Shada Mellor said that he had begun committing crime at the age of 10 and was first locked up at 15. She said he has been in custody for 18 years and makes the hoax calls out of frustration.
She said: “It’s not the way to do it, but it’s an act out of frustration. He has been frank about why he committed these offences.”
Judge Andrew Stubbs KC told Preece-Smith: “You have spent the vast majority of your life in custody. The problem is that custody has not stopped you offending.”
Referring to his explanation about revenge over his fellow inmate, he said: “ The last place we want vigilante justice is in prison. You caused as much cost and disruption to the prison service as you could.”
He jailed Preece-Smith for 40 months.